


Reveal, Reset, Restore

by iamfriendarin



Series: A18 [1]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Body Horror, Existential Crisis, I'm Bad At Tagging, Memory Loss, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Violence, and confused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-05-26 03:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamfriendarin/pseuds/iamfriendarin
Summary: Arin learns the truth about what he really is.





	1. Compile

_Darkness. A desk lamp clicks on, fuzzy as my unfocused eyes glance around. A familiar face turns towards me, away from the soft illumination of a scrolling laptop. Their mouth moves, unknown words spilling forth. Only one sticks out to me: A18. I cannot respond, like my mouth is not yet able to function in movement or in voice._

_A sigh, and they turn back to the laptop. I fade away again._

* * *

 

Arin snaps awake with a soft gasp. The room seems faintly illuminated before fading back into the half dim of early dawn. It takes a moment for him to catch his breath, the strange dream slipping through the cracks and back into wherever it came from. As the adrenaline fades, he lays back down, curling around his pillow and drifting back off.

That morning, he is woken not by a strange dream, but by late morning light slanting through the window. The events of the night forgotten, he rises, pulling on a pair of loose sweatpants and leaving the room. It's like Arin's not quite there, making a bowl of cereal and slowly eating at the counter. A faint feeling of apprehension begins to build, and the dream faintly comes to the forefront of his mind. That face, someone he knows.. but the details escape him. It was so fuzzy, anyway, but it was probably driven by eating so late. Yeah, that's it...

His hand lightly touches a scar running the length of his abdomen, down the left side. He doesn't know how he got it, some memory lost to time, or perhaps suppressed.

Another sigh, and Arin sets his bowl in the sink. They had a recording session scheduled today, and he couldn't be letting memories and dreams distract him.

He rinses the bowl and goes to dress, heading out to his car and heading to the office.

* * *

 

It's quiet as Arin enters the building, the first one there. With Brian and Dan preparing for tour, it wasn't a surprise, they'd both likely slept in after finishing more last minute preparations. Hence the need for recording, to accumulate a backlog for while they're on the road.

He sits in his office, leaning back in his desk chair. His mind wanders, focusing on a soft whirring sound. It was a noise he could always hear, like a strange form of tinnitus, but it didn't impact his work, so it wasn't important.

Matt enters before long, giving a passing wave as he heads to his desk. Ryan isn't far behind, peeking in with a friendly hello. Arin responds in kind, but he's not all focused, still thinking of the dream and others in the same strain he's been having lately.

Arin's so lost in thought he doesn't see Brian going by, and he definitely doesn't notice Dan come in and flop on the lounge seat with a long, drawn out groan. He's tired from preparing, and equally excited to go on tour again, creating a dichotomy of energy and exhaustion that balances out to make him a bit silly.

The older man doesn't notice Arin's spaced out expression at first, but sits up and waves a hand in his face to get his attention. He flinches away, and Dan's eyebrows furrow.

"What?" Arin shakes his head and looks up at him, carding his hair back. "What's that look for, dude?"

"Nothin', must have been the light. Almost looked like your eyes changed color.."

"I've got brown eyes, they're the most boring color ever. Blue eyes are cool, they can go every color in the right setting."

"Yeah, probably just something silly. I'm pretty tired myself. The lovelies can't get enough Sleepy Grumps, so recording is gonna be fun..."

Arin nods with a smile, standing up. "Come on, then, let's get started before we both fall asleep."

* * *

 

"Alright, next time on Game Grumps, hopefully we won't suck so damn bad." Dan chuckles, snuggling into his blanket pile. 

"I'll suck you real good, Danny, don't you worry." Arin stops the recording and stretches, checking the time. "Well, there's four episodes down, probably seven bajillion to go."

"Oh God, don't remind me, Big Cat." Dan flops over onto Arin's lap, stretching out and purposely pushing his hand against Arin's face. The silence of Arin trying to figure out whether or not to lick his hand draws out for a moment, and Dan picks his head up as though listening to something. "Hey, do you hear that?"

"Hear what? I just hear the A/C and the console.."

"This whirring noise, it's really weird. Almost sounds like it's coming from you."

Arin snorts softly. "Yeah, I've got a secret lung problem from all the pot I've been smoking." That earns him a punch on the arm as Dan gets up, listening around the room.

"It's definitely centered around you, for some reason. Maybe there's something stuck in the couch." He moves around to check in the cushions, and Arin gets out of the way.

"I think you're hearing things, Dan. Going loopy from all the sleep you haven't been getting."

The older man sighs, straightening. "I dunno, man. It's weird, it sounded like it was coming from your neck and shit. Maybe you're catching a cold."

"I don't get sick, Daniel, I'm too cool for diseases." He grins.

Dan sighs, heading to the door. "I'm gonna go see if Brian needs any help, we need a break anyway."

"Yeah, we do, shit. This game is way too weird for me."

The door closes, and Arin is left alone with his thoughts and the quiet ambiance of the room around him. It's comfortable, and he can't really help it as he lies on the couch and drifts off into a nap. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my very first work posted here! I apologize for the lack of Suzy, but right now I don't think I can do her justice with my writing. If I can get a grasp of it, though, I'll definitely bring her in later. Thanks for reading!


	2. Debug

_The room is brighter now. I can see that there are small windows set in these concrete walls, short and long, sunlight streaming through. A basement, then._

_My vision is clearer, too, but strangely flat. I can't move my head or any other part of my body, and a hand is moving in and out of my peripheral vision. Someone is humming, a low voice filling the room as a dull pain reverberates from the top of my head._

 

_With a spark and a flash, I blink as sight returns to my left eye, giving the room depth once more._

_"There we go..." The voice speaks, soft and gentle as the hand moves over my eyes and closes the lids._ _I can see soft glowing lines as darkness swallows me once more._

* * *

A gentle hand rouses Arin from his nap, lightly smacking at his cheek. Ross and Dan look down at him as he blinks the sleep away, yawning and groaning softly. "Fuck, I must have drifted off... How long was I asleep."

"Thirty years," Ross starts, before a smack from Dan shuts him up.

 

"Maybe half an hour, not long." He shrugs.

Arin chuckles softly, rubbing his face. "I still feel so damn tired, these weird ass dreams fucking suck.."

Ross snorts. "Widdle Arin is having nightmares, he needs his blankie."

"They're not nightmares, dude," Arin huffs, shrugging. "They feel... strange, I guess, like memories? Except I don't think I've ever had eye surgery."

Dan shudders, crinkling his nose in mild disgust. "Oh, ew, don't put that image in my head."

"Sorry." Arin winces, the image of gruesome surgery filling his mind as well. 

Ross rolls his eyes, heading back out of the room. "We should totally do a Steam Train if you guys get bored of each other."

Arin sits up. "Me? Get bored of my favorite Dan?"

A mock gasp as Dan sits by him. "I better be the only Dan you have, Arin."

"Oh no, my secret's been revealed. Now the Dan clones will escape!" He laughs as he picks up the controller, starting the game and the next recording. "Welcome back to Game Grumps!"

Dan settles in to watch, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "Yo, what if there were clones of us, sitting around somewhere? How fucking surreal would that be?"

Arin laughs. "Who in their right minds would clone us? Go clone Bill Nye, that's much better use of resources."

"Could you imagine, though, like one day I finally fucking break from these shitty games and a bunch of huge dudes just barge in, grab me, and slap a copy down in my place?"

The shudder that graces Arin's shoulders is near imperceptible. "It wouldn't be the same, dude, we're one of a kind. Ain't no other Arin like me."

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, cloning means someone would need our DNA, not that mine isn't spread halfway around LA as it is."

"Don't make me get the lie chime, Dan."

* * *

 

With the episodes wrapped up and ready for editing, Dan and Arin file out of the recording room, Dan going off to find a toilet while Arin heads back to his office to do boring boss things.

He's lost in thought as he makes his way through the building, pushing the door open to find Ross staring at the computer screen. Arin follows his gaze, finding a to-do list neatly written on the screen, something he'd just been mentally arranging.

"Uh, Ross? Why are you staring at my computer like that? Is it gonna do a trick? Also, why are you in here? Not that I mind, just kinda creepy."

"I was waiting in here for you so I could show you some of what I've been working on, and then your computer kicked on and started shuffling windows and shit on its own, and it just typed that list up. I think you have a virus or something."

"Weird. I'll have to tell Brian to stop downloading his furry porn on it." He sits in the chair and faces Ross, missing the brief command prompt that appears on the screen.

**> I am not a virus.**

Ross doesn't miss it, leaning to get a better look, but it's gone. "Yeah, I just saw another window pop up, you definitely have a virus."

Arin turns and starts a virus scan, just to be safe, and faces Ross again. "What did you want to show me?"

"Uh.. you know what, it can wait. A virus like that could be spreading on the network, we should probably scan everything to be safe."

"You're right. I'll go let Matt and Ryan know, we don't want to lose episodes cause of some stupid virus." Arin follows Ross out of the room, and another box appears on the screen behind him.

**> Asshole.**

* * *

 

Work in the office grinds to a halt as every device in the building is scanned, even going so far as the temporarily cut the Internet to ensure nothing is getting out. A weird tingle runs up Arin's spine as he unplugs the router, and just out of the corner of his eye, a tiny box appears, floating in the room.

**> I'm still here, you know. But the scan won't find anything.**

The noise Arin makes is less than dignified, trying to face the mysterious floating dialogue box. Except... he can't. It stays at the edge of his vision, firmly placed right where he can see it, but out of the way.

**> I don't care what he says, you have to remember eventually. **

"Remember? Remember what? What the fuck is this?" His voice is barely more than a whisper, panic gripping his chest. What kind of surreal bullshit is this?

**> You're--**

**Connection lost. Retry Y/N?**

The panic smothers Arin like a blanket, as he focuses on the prompt, its content, and the implications of both. He's snapped out of it by Ross shaking his shoulder. 

"You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost or something..." 

He shakes his head, trying to clear the prompt from his vision, but it stays put. "'M fine, I... I think."

"Did you really space out in the middle of putting on a color contact?" Ross chuckles. "That's a new one." 

"Yeah, I guess--wait, contact? What do you mean?" 

"Well, your eye is blue. I figured you were just screwing around with it." He shrugs, moving closer to inspect the eye. "Plus, color contacts are fun. You must have a really good set, the color is almost perfect."

Arin doesn't bother with a response, quickly pushing past him and running to the bathroom. Sure enough, his right eye is a bright blue, almost too bright to be human, and he rubs his eyes to be sure of what he's seeing. 

Brown. Just.. plain, chocolate brown. The prompt is gone from his periphery as well, and he just about passes out with relief. 

Ross followed him out of worry, stopping at the door. "I think your contact fell out, dude." 

"I... I wasn't wearing contacts..." 

"Now that's really weird." Ross laughs, leaning on the doorframe. "Maybe the light was weird. Holly says my eyes turn green when I get really pissed off."

"Yeah.. just weird light.." Arin is only half listening, intently focused on the mirror, waiting for another prompt, another color change... anything to help him figure out what the fuck is going on. 

* * *

**> You can't keep it from him forever. He'll find out, and he won't forgive you for not telling him sooner. **

"I know, I know, it's just... How do you tell someone that and expect them to believe you?" 

**> Don't ask me. I'm a program, not a psychic. **

A soft groan at the reply, as footsteps lightly shuffle in the room. The chair swivels away from the laptop, facing the sound and softly glowing pink eyes.

"I think you're gonna get to meet him sooner rather than later.." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got excited and posted this earlier than originally intended. Whoops.  
> Daily updates probably won't be the norm, and I definitely don't have a schedule, but I'll do my best to not let it die off.


	3. Hang

_I'm standing. I feel like I could fall at any time, but there's a hand on my shoulder, steadying me. Kind blue eyes smile at me from behind a neat beard._

_"Go ahead, you can do it."_

_At his encouragement, I step forward, grinning widely as I take my first steps around the small basement._

_"Awesome job, A18. I'm really proud of you."_

_I face him, the smile staying on my face as I reply. "Thanks, B--"_

_The smile falls as my voice cuts out again, leaving the sentence to hang in the air. He claps his hand on my shoulder and pulls me into a hug. "Don't thank me, you did this by yourself. Now, let's get your voice fixed.."_

* * *

 

**> Really? You're gonna send E to tell the truth like that?**

"Yeah. I know, it'll be jarring, but... hopefully he'll believe it."

**> You're going to kill the man.**

"I sure hope not."

 **> Better than sending D**.

"That would definitely kill him."

* * *

 

The house is dark, quiet as Arin comes to, only the whirr of appliances there to greet him. It takes a moment for him to place his surroundings. He'd come home from the office and promptly laid down, following the scare with his eye suddenly being blue, and must have fallen asleep. Suzy had left only a few days prior to go on a road trip north with her sister. Girl time, she had said, and while he certainly wouldn't take that from her, Arin can't help but wish she were home to comfort him. 

He sighs and sits up, moving into the kitchen and peeking into the fridge. Eggs, tortillas, cheese, peppers, probably some sausage in the freezer. Breakfast burritos it is. 

**search.query(breakfast_burrito)**

**Connecting.....**

**Connection successful. Loading...**  

The words light up in the right of his vision within a prompt and Arin about drops the eggs. He gets them set down before a search page appears and blocks out his vision entirely, full of recipes for different fancy burritos. A scream catches in his throat as he falls to the floor, almost slamming his head against the open fridge door. Praying to every god he can think off just searches a list of gods, and focusing on Suzy... oh, God. Now there's someone's porn art of her in his vision. Squeezing his eyes shut in panic, he stays curled in a little ball on the kitchen floor for what feels like forever.

Arin cautiously opens his eyes, and thankfully, the bright kitchen light greets him, instead of a webpage glued to his face. Shakily, he picks himself up off the floor, picking up the dropped peppers and setting them on the counter. 

Breathe in, breathe out. That didn't just happen. Some sort of stress induced hallucination. 

Breathe in, breathe out. He's fine. He's fine. 

 _I'm fine._  

Slowly, he gathers himself back together, tying with a thin string to hold until he can talk to someone about all this. Suzy, or a therapist, even. 

* * *

 

The peppers sizzle softly with the onions and sausage as he sautés them together, scrambling the eggs in another pan. It's all mixed once they're done, spooned neatly into a tortilla with cheese and a bit of hot sauce. He eats in silence, seated at a table that seems too large for just him, and his mind wanders again. 

The dreams that felt as more than just dreams, so vivid and real and yet, just out of his reach of knowing more. He knows there's more there, more to them, but he just can't grasp the memory. The face, too, the man with him in every dream. So familiar, on the tip of his tongue, but the memory is just blurred enough that he can't place it. 

The eyes, from Dan mentioning it in passing to Ross outright telling him that his eyes changed color so drastically. Impossible, but he'd seen it himself, for a brief second. 

Then the scar. It was strange, like he'd just noticed it recently, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember how it happened. Plate forgotten, Arin gets up and heads into the bathroom, pulling his shirt off and tracing over the scar in the soft light. Perfectly straight, running from just under his left pec to his hip. No jagged scar tissue, just a line. 

The bulb above him goes out with a pop, bathing the room in darkness. Arin doesn't notice, though, too wrapped up in his thoughts. As he runs his hand down the skin, he wracks his brain, trying to search for anything that could tell him where he got the scar, why he couldn't remember, hell, anything about the dreams he'd been having. Anything at all. 

"Why can't I just fucking remember?!" Arin looks up to his dimmed reflection in the mirror, and is met with not brown eyes, but with softly glowing amber. He staggers back in shock, but this time, the color doesn't fade, staying vibrant and illuminating the room just a touch. Even as he rubs his eyes, blinks, everything he can think of, the yellow color persists. He scrambles to take a picture with his phone, and that just confirms it. Cameras don't lie, after all... 

 _Okay. Stop. Just breathe, idiot. Fucking breathe..._  

Breathe in, breathe out. There's a logical explanation. 

Breathe in, breathe out. Perfectly logical reason as to why _my fucking eyes have gone yellow._  

His train of thought grinds to a halt as his finger brushes over a weird divot in his abdomen, slightly to the right of the scar. Curiosity about the spot overrides the panic of his eyes, and he presses gently on it, just to see if it's a bruise of some sort. 

It's like his whole body has been submerged, fuzz overtaking his vision as he slides down the wall. He can't move, he can't hear more than the strange whirring, seeming to be even louder than normal. At the bottom of his vision, he can see the edge of a door in his chest, just slightly open. He can't see what's inside, but just that is enough to fill him with a muted panic. 

Arin can't hear a soft knock at the door, or the door opening. He can feel the footsteps, hear the sound of an eerily familiar voice asking if anyone is home, up until they step into his vision, where he's leaned against the door. 

 

His own face stares back with vibrantly pink eyes, hair neatly pulled back with an equally vibrant pink streak. Arin would scream if he could, but instead he can only submit to the darkness his own panic has so kindly delivered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter the pink fuck! 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at iamfriendarin.tumblr.com where I rp this stuff, or at ramuswrites.tumblr.com where I'll be putting drabbles and shit!


	4. Decode

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Fair warning, the beginning is rather violent and goes into the circumstances surrounding Arin losing his memory. Please, if you're sensitive to that, skip down to the bold block at the bottom of the section. There's also a peek in Arin's panel at the end of the chapter.

 

_"No! Don't hurt him!" I rush towards the other, but he's taller, stronger, an almost perfect clone of me if not for the angry scowl etched into his face at all times. I can't dodge the arm clotheslining me as I try to stop him, he's already hurt A17 so much..._

_Now he turns to me. "A18, you stupid fuck. You should know better than to get in my way. But I guess that's why I'm a version better, isn't it?" His fist collides with my jaw, a cacophony of alarms screaming in my_ _head and filling my vision as he beats me. I can feel it jarring my main drive, the needle scratching the disk and damaging my data. I'm sure I will die here..._

_A19 stiffens suddenly, letting out a static howl. Barry stands over him, holding a stun gun to his neck until he short circuits and falls over._

_"Are you okay, 18?"_ _He reaches down to help me up, and I take his hand, holding my head in the other._

_"No, I... he's damaged my main drive. I think I'm experiencing data loss... much more and I might have lost everything."_

_He nods, leaning down to disconnect A19's power supply. But he isn't offline, and a strong fist wraps around Barry's neck, pulling him down and crushing his windpipe._

_I bring my foot down on A19's arm, and for a brief second, I relish in the disgusting snap, before the reality of what I've done sets in fully. He howls and lets go of Barry, now that the servo is shot, but his wrath is pointed at me now. His good hand grabs my ankle and pulls it from under me, and I can only feel the impact of my head into the concrete, and the sharp agony of the drive head digging a deep groove into the disk as error messages cloud my vision._

_**System critical!** _

_**Drive failure at** _ _**62%.** _

_**[A18] shutting down....** _

* * *

 

"Wake up, buddy. Come on back to the world, we got shit to talk about." The voice is so familiar as Arin rouses, but he can't quite place it. He opens his eyes, seeing his bedroom around him. _Why did I pass out?_

He looks around, and now he remembers, as his eyes lock onto... himself?

"Dude, don't look at me like that." The clone is sitting at the edge of the bed, watching him with a cool gaze.

"Are you... are you real?"

"Just as real as the panel in your chest, dude."

Arin shudders, needing to stop and take a breath to stop the bile rising in his throat. He sits up. "Are you me? A fuckin'... future me or something?"

The other chuckles and shakes his head. "Nah, no time travel here. And I'm not you, other than looking like you. We're two different models. You're A18-L64P. I'm E79-Q05Z."

"I... what are you talking about?"

"I'm gonna touch your hand, if that's okay." He reaches over, taking Arin's hand and moving it to his hip. The other huffs at the contact, but touches the spot.

"I don't see what you're--oh." He brushes over the gently raised serial code in his hip, eyes wide. E79 stretches his shirt collar over his shoulder to show his serial printed there.

"What does that mean, dude?"

"You already know what it means, Arin."

"....I'm a robot, aren't I?"

"An android, yeah."

Arin stares at the wall for a long time, silent as the truth sinks in. He's not human. He's never been human. Just a computer piloting a body of metal and synthetics.

"How many more of me are out there?"

"Besides a couple looking like you, none. You're the only Arin."

"How many are there?"

"Three that look like you, including me. One doesn't. One's a program."

"What's your name, then, if not Arin?"

He grins. "I thought you'd have guessed, I wore my headband and belt."

"I'm processing a lot right now, just pretend I'm blind." Arin sighs softly, staring at his hands.

"I go by Egoraptor. Or Ego. I was modeled to you a few years after you left."

"Ego... doesn't make a bad name, at least."

"Oh, thank you. I didn't pick it out like you did, but I like it all the same."

Arin's silent again, then looks up at the pink bot.

"Why don't I remember being built or programmed or anything, Ego?"

"I wasn't there, hadn't been built yet. I'd been told you had an accident, but I don't know the specifics.."

He nods, standing up and heading to the living room. Ego follows. "Where are you going?"

"This is too much, I just... I.." He stops and leans on the wall, putting a hand over his heart--no. He doesn't have a heart, he's a fucking _robot._ The beat is probably simulated or something to trick others... oh God, what a fucking mess. Does he even need to breathe, or eat, or sleep, or any of it?

Ego puts a hand on his shoulder. "I think I can help."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they're sitting on the couch, watching some stupid movie while Arin sits wrapped in a soft blanket. As simple as it was, Ego was right about it helping to ground him.

"Do.. do any of the guys... did they know what I was already?" Arin looks over at the other, pulling the blanket tighter in fear of the answer.

Ego shakes his head. "No one at the office knows anything. Not even Brian."

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I'm gonna have to tell Suzy.."

"Yeah, that'll probably be fun."

They drop back into a silence, before another question comes to mind. "What, uh... what was going on with my eyes?"

"Oh, you were thinking too hard, so they turned yellow. It doesn't happen often, but it was enough to get the rest of you to lag."

"What about the blue? I swear my eye was blue earlier."

"That happens when you're accessing screens. See, we can kinda project screens into our vision so we can do multiple things at once. It blocks sight, but it's useful."

"Earlier I was on the Internet, is that the same thing?"

"Yeah, you must have called up a webpage on accident."

"Huh... what else can I do?" Arin sits up a bit, becoming less panicked and more intrigued.

"Well, I don't fully know. We've all got Bluetooth and Internet and stuff, but I think I was told you can also interface with devices."

"Like... control them?"

"Yeah, if it has any sort of wireless connection you should be able to tap into it. I don't have that function, so I'm not sure.."

Arin nods, grinning a bit. "I could hack Ross' tablet."

"Or connect to your phone, or anything, really."

The smile fades away as quickly as it showed up. "I'm... I'm actually a fucking robot, what the _fuck_..."

Ego nods, shrugging. "Probably isn't the best thing to realize. Look, we don't have to sleep, and I'm not leaving yet, so there's all night to answer questions."

Arin huffs. "Good, I... I have a lot."

"Fire away."

* * *

Dan walks into the Grump room, intending to set up for a Steam Train. Instead, he finds Arin, staring off into space. Hesitantly, he sits down next to him, and the other doesn't seem to notice, or move. He touches his shoulder and Arin jumps back to life, looking at Dan with a half crazed look. "Dan? When... when did you get in here?"

"A few moments ago... Are you alright, Big Cat? You didn't even respond when I sat down.."

"Yeah, I'm fine.." His tone isn't nearly sincere enough, and his shoulders slump a bit. "Just got something on my mind.."

Dan scoots a little closer. "Lay it on me, buddy. Talking can help."

"You... you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

A sigh, and Arin looks at him. "I just found out last night... that I'm a robot... an android."

Dan blinks, then lets out a soft laugh. "Good one, buddy. What's really wrong?" 

He huffs. "I told you that you wouldn't believe me."

"Androids aren't a real thing, dude, unless you're counting those sex bots and shit. And no matter how much you offer to blow me, you're not a sex bot." He smiles. 

Arin just puts his head in his hands, not comforted by the humor. "Just forget I said anything.." 

Dan watches him as they fall into silence. "... you aren't kidding, are you?" 

"No, Danny, I'm not. I can prove it." 

"Please do." 

Arin gets up, locking the door. No need for anyone else to see this. He also checks the engineering room window to see if anyone's there. Once he's determined that Dan is the only witness, he goes back to the couch, sitting down and tugging his shirt off. 

"I thought you weren't a sex robot." 

"Shut up." Arin grabs Dan's hand, setting it on the indent in his abdomen. He takes a breath. "Push right here. It'll... it'll open the panel. I'm not gonna be able to respond once you do, it's... a safety thing... Please don't touch anything." 

"Sure, whatever." He's obviously not believing, but does as he's asked anyway, depressing the spot with a tiny click. Arin relaxes as he does, looking completely zoned out as his eyes shine amber. Dan waves a hand in his face. "Dude? What the fuck kind of trick is this..?" 

When Arin doesn't respond, he looks back at his friend's chest, noticing the edge that's appeared. He pulls it back, almost retching when he sees the inside.

It's not disgusting, exactly, it's really very neat. A pump set up on his left side, pushing coolant through his body like a heart. A few ducts redirect air pulled from a large fan in his throat, towards smaller fans on a multitude of drives and processors on the right. One drive skips on occasion, sounding like nails on a chalkboard for a split second. 

He slowly pushes the panel shut, and Arin blinks the amber away from his eyes. "Do you beli--" 

He doesn't get to finish before Dan has darted from the room, to vomit at the thought of his friend, his human friend, actually being a robot. 

Arin is left alone with thoughts digging in like a dark cloud, and he hugs his knees to his chest, letting the storm roll in over his mind. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tons of thanks to dinosaur-laser-fight on Tumblr for doodling up some of these good bot boys! If she ever posts them, I'll be sure to link them down here. Otherwise, just go look at her sweet sweet doodles.


	5. Retry

**E79-Q05Z logging in...**

**Login successful.**

**E79 > Hey**

**A1 > How's it going with A18?**

**E79 > Not good. **

**A1 > Elaborate?**

**E79 > It went well at first, and he went to tell Dan.**

**A1 > Oh shit.**

**E79 > Oh shit is right. Arin had him open the panel. I could hear him gagging from here.**

**A1 > Ew.**

**alphadoop > Where exactly is here Ego**

**E79 > Uh, well, you see.**

**alphadoop > Just tell me**

**E79 > There's a computer in here with some screens, and some excess wiring. Maybe a closet.**

**alphadoop > Is there a window into the recording room**

**E79 > Yeah**

**alphadoop > engineering room**

**E79 > Fancy.**

**A1 > Moron.**

**alphadoop > you know that'll raise more questions if you're found**

**E79 >I'm aware.**

**alphadoop > you're an idiot**

**E79 >I'm aware of that too.**

**alphadoop > I'm on my way. Arin's probably not doing well with that kind of reaction**

**alphadoop logged out.**

**E79-Q05Z logged out.**

**A1 > This'll be fun.**

* * *

 

Arin's still curled up on the couch as Dan finally leaves the restroom, a sickly pallor to his face as he rushes to Brian. The older man is poring over a notebook of lyrics, trying to pace them to a beat he's tapping out with his pencil. Dan sits by him, staring at the table, and it prompts Brian to look over. "Danny, what the fuck happened? You look like shit."

"Arin's a robot." His voice is hollow, rough from the vomiting.

Brian blinks, turning to face him fully. "Run that by me again, please."

"He's... he's a fucking robot, his chest opens and there's all this fucking equipment and shit in there..." Dan gags just thinking about it. "He's not human, I... I don't know if he isn't the real Arin or if he's always been this way or what, I... I just..."

Brian sighs, putting an arm around him. "I think the stress is getting to you, maybe you should go home and rest...”

"I'm being serious, Brian, please!" He almost looks crazed. "I can show you, he'll... he'll probably let you see too..."

"Danny, look at me. You're obviously very stressed from tour prep, and this heat wave probably isn't helping either. You should get some water."

Dan glares. "Come with me to him again, okay? And if you don't see it, I'll go home and nap for the next week."

"Fine." Brian stands up. "I need to take a break from these lyrics anyway."

* * *

 

Barry slips into the office mostly unnoticed. He only says 'mostly' because Ross looked directly at him and didn't notice it was him. He looked sleepy anyway. Ego told him Arin was in the recording room, and the pink bot is hiding in the engineering room next door, to keep an eye on him as well.

He pushes the door open, going over and sitting by Arin. The android jumps, staring at him with wide eyes. "Barry? What are you doing here? You didn't say you were gonna visit..."

"Consider it a surprise..." He sighs, looking at him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, about what you were."

Arin's eyes go wide as saucers. "How... how..."

"I built you, Arin. A18. That's you.

"You... you built me? You fuckin'... made me?"

He nods. "I know it's probably a lot to take in.."

Arin just leans back against the couch. "Actually, it's more of a relief. I'd rather it be you, a friend, than some mysterious corporation or whatever..." He scrubs his hand across his face. "Why now? Why not sooner?

Barry crosses his legs on the couch. "All of the androids I've built have connections to a sort of intranet with each other. A1, the AI I coded first, he noticed your main drive was skipping across a gash in the disk, and he theorized that it was causing you to have dreams of the memories you'd lost."

"...I lost them... because I was attacked by... myself?"

He winces. "In a twisted sense, yeah. But A19 wasn't you, he didn't have your compassion, or kindness... He was jealous. Of everything. You could feel wholly, and he couldn't, that was the start. He took it out on A17, your, uh, previous version, and he would have killed the poor thing if you hadn't tried to defend him."

"Where’s... where's A19 now?" Arin hugs a throw pillow.

"As morbid as it is, I've got him deactivated and chained up in a smaller room in the basement. Can't risk him getting out. I don't want to imagine what he'd do to everyone now that you've got friends too."

Arin snorts. "Yeah, friends... Dan ran away when I showed him..."

The door opens, and Brian and Dan are coming in. Speak of the spandex devil. He won't make eye contact with Arin, which just serves to hurt the android more.

Brian sighs. "Hey, Barry. Dan's been blabbering about Arin being a robot, I think he needs to go lay down."

Arin becomes very interested in a few loose threads in the couch, and Barry bites his lip. "That... well, that's because he is."

The older man shakes his head. "Not you too."

Barry just sighs, facing Arin. "A18-L64P, maintenance login. Verify voice recognition."

Arin relaxes immediately, just like opening his panel, and his eyes turn blue instead. "Verified." His voice is flat, and he just stares at Barry.

Brian looks horrified, and Dan is hiding behind him.

"Log uptime."

"Time since last shutdown is five years, ten months, two days. Total time online is eight years, five months, three weeks, one day."

"That's not possible, Barry. Androids aren't real." Brian moves forward, waving a hand in Arin's face. He doesn't respond.

"Well, you didn't notice before, so..."

"You mean he's always been a robot?" Dan's voice quivers.

"Yeah. But he's still Arin. He's always been Arin." Barry smiles a bit, turning back to Arin. "Logout."

The bot jolts, the blue clearing from his eyes. He shivers, staring at the dark-haired human. "Don't do that, God. It felt like swimming in gravy."

"Sorry, I had to prove it and I didn't think opening you up would be good for Dan's health."

Said human squeaks. "Appreciated." He moves to sit on the floor in front of the couch, looking up at Arin. "You've really been like this the whole time I've known you?"

"I guess. It's still setting in for me."

"Have... have you always known?" He looks away, almost sad.

"No, shit, Dan... I just found out definitively last night, I swear. I wouldn't have kept it from any of you if I'd known sooner."

Dan nods, reaching up to pull Arin down into a hug. "You’re... you're still you. Right? Nothing's gonna change?"

"Not if I can fucking help it, Dan.."

He nods, just holding him. "You whirr, dude... you told me it was a lung thing... but that's … that’s your fuckin’ fans..."

Arin nods. "Yeah, it's still setting in.."

* * *

 

A door opens outside the room, as Ross peeks in the engineering room for a new USB cable. He locks eyes with Egoraptor standing by the window, grabs his cable and shuts the door again.

He stands there for a moment, letting that set in, then opens the door again. Ross looks at him again, which is easy cause he hasn't moved. This time, he moves into the room and grabs his arm, tugging him into the recording room.

"Guys, look, Arin dyed his hair!" Ross grins, and then he sees Arin in Dan's arms. "What the fuck!?"

Barry facepalms. "Fuck."


	6. Revive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little dialogue heavy. What's consistency mean?

"What the fuck!?" Panic edges into Ross' voice as he processes that he's staring at his friend and boss, while also holding the arm of the same man's apparent clone. Speaking of, Egoraptor's tugged his arm away from the human, inching away like he's going to run.

Barry sighs, waving him over. "Ego, it's fine. I'm in the middle of explaining."

"Exactly what are you explaining, Barry, did you fucking clone Arin??" That panic has wiggled right to the core of his tone, making a nice nest out of his chest and sending his heartrate through the roof.

"I mean, when you put it like that, sorta. I built both of them, so.."

"Built?!"

Arin nods, looking at Ego, then to Ross. "Yeah. I'm a fucking robot. Surprised me too, cause he showed up while I was half passed out on my bathroom floor."

The pink android shrugs, leaning on the wall. "Hey, it's not my fault you opened your own maintenance panel."

Ross looks like he's going to vomit, lowering himself to a floor that suddenly looks very comfortable. "Shit, you're a robot, that... that's why your eye... oh _Jesus,_ you're a fucking robot."

"I really am FriendArin." An awkward smile crosses his face, trying to somewhat lighten the somber mood. It earns a dissatisfied collective groan from Brian and Dan.

That gets Ross to at least crack a smile, exhaling harshly. "Barry, how--no, why did you build him? And then build _another one?_ "

"Are you asking that seriously or as some sort of joke?" He raises an eyebrow, trying to discern his intent non-verbally.

"Yeah, what's it like to be a teen mom to a can opener?" His smile widens now, some of the panic ebbing away.

Ego grins too, wiggling his fingers. "Excuse you, I am the **best** goddamn can opener. Someone has to open his cans of oranges."

"Hey! I don't need you to open my fruit!"

Dan is thankfully not freaking out with this new revelation, at least not externally, going and looking Egoraptor over like a curious child. "This is actually pretty cool. You could be in a Starbomb video if we ever do a live action one."

"Really?" Ego's grin only gets wider. "That would be the best video ever. I'm talkin' blow the internet up cool. We'd roast all those servers. Google would just fucking combust."

Arin looks at them over the couch, shaking his head with a ghost of a smile. "You're not replacing me, Avidan, nice try."

"Arin, how could you suggest such a thing?" Dan puts his hand over his heart and exaggerates a hurt expression. "How could I possibly replace my best friend who is actually a toaster?"

"I hope your next toast is burnt."

"You're so mean to me!"

 

Ross sighs quietly as the two banter, watching Barry for a moment. "So why do it? Why make a robot so humanlike? Why make a robot at all?"

"I mean, why not?" He shrugs, sliding off the couch to sit by him. "I already had the AI. The first body I built, I used craft store motors and parts of a Windows. The first successful unit was only a foot tall, cause those were the biggest parts I could get at the time. It took a while to get up to Arin size, and I've really stopped building, for the most part. Just code upkeep and making sure they don't go nuts on each other."

"... Has that happened? Them going... crazy?"

Barry laughs bitterly. "If you're worried about Arin going Terminator on you, don't be. He's easily one of the more docile bots. But... yeah. The model after him, he wasn't... all there. I'd coded something wrong, crossed some wires, and he was.. violent. Angry. He was the reason Arin didn't remember what he was, really the reason Arin even has his name, has this life... I wish I could have brought myself to disassemble him."

"Wait, this... crazy bot, he's still active?"

"No, no... he's offline, I disconnected his power and locked him up. I just can't take him apart with how much he looks like Arin." He runs his hand through his hair. "Ego has offered a few times. I think I should take him up on it."

Ross nods, tilting his head up and closing his eyes. "This is a lot to take in.."

"Yeah? Good. Means you have feelings." At the laugh from the other, he continues. "It's gonna be. But we'll work through it. He's not a replica or anything, this is just what he's always been."

He nods again. "So.. can I charge my phone off him?"

"You'll have to convince him to let you. Cord is in his wrist."

He giggles, a sheer mischievous noise that only means trouble. "Awesome." Ross quietly gets up, walking over to Arin and pushing around on his wrist to find the panel.

"Hey! What are you--!" The panel pops open and Arin's eyes turn amber, but he doesn't go into safe mode. The edge of a cord lolls out, and realization crosses his face. "No way, O'Donovan, you are not charging your phone on me! No!"

Ross doesn't answer, chasing him around the room in an attempt to plug his phone in, despite Brian purposefully trying to trip him as Dan explodes into laughter.

Barry smiles, and Ego sits next to him. "You think they'll be okay, learning all this shit? Probably a lot to take in, especially since they all thought he was human..."

He has to think for a moment, before turning to him with a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm positive. Everything is gonna be fine."

* * *

 

A17 thinks he's found a friend. He doesn't remember seeing this bot before, kept in a closet to the side, but he wants to be his friend. All it takes is a cord plugged back in, and then mahogany eyes flicker to life.

A dark laugh echoes out, and A17 giggles too, a set of trilling beeps.

It's cut short by a fist around his throat, bending and halting the fan where his trachea would be with the sound of metal scraping on metal, as the dark laugh continues.

**A19-M75Q Status change: Offline -- > Online**

**A1 > Oh shit.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Thanks for sticking through this fun little adventure. There will be a sequel, eventually, and it's gonna be quite a bit darker. Enjoy the last chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!


End file.
